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Monsanto Executive: U.S. Biotech Regulations Working Great

Turn to the nation's most objective and informative
daily environmental news resource to learn how the United States and key
players around the world are responding to the environmental...

If Phil Miller is a warrior in
the unending war over GMOs, then at least he's a happy
warrior.

Miller is vice president for
global government and regulatory affairs at the agribusiness titan
Monsanto, where he's worked for more than two decades.

Though he advocates on behalf of
a company that can be a political lightning rod, to put it mildly,
Miller strikes a relentlessly positive tone when talking about the
laws and regulations that affect Monsanto and the agriculture
industry writ large.

In an interview with Bloomberg
BNA, Miller talked about how the federal government affects his
company, what Monsanto would like it to do differently and why
speed is of the essence for companies that sell to
farmers.

Would you say that the Obama administration is
friendly to your causes? Would you say the administration is
supportive of Monsanto and the other companies in your
industry?

Phil
Miller:

This administration has been supportive of our
industry. And I also think that they've seen us as an industry step
up and have more of the conversations around the role of
agriculture and things like climate change and how agriculture is
going to have to adapt to that.

One of the things that both our industry as well as
our government has done but could be even more effective on is
helping consumers in understanding the robustness in the way they
do their assessments. I've seen this administration do that. And
I've seen the requests that we do more of that as well to help
consumers understand.

Bloomberg
BNA:

So you think that the administration is good on the
behind-the-scenes stuff, but when it comes to communicating to the
public on agriculture and on biotech, they need to improve?

Miller:

There remains a pretty significant gap in people's
knowledge about science, safety and the benefits of all the
agriculture technologies that are used—whether it's chemistry or
biotech. EPA, USDA, FDA, any of those organizations—they do a
phenomenal job of assessing products. I think all of us could do a
much better job of helping relate to society both the robustness,
and why they should have confidence in our systems, in our
processes and, frankly for us, in the safety of our products.

Bloomberg
BNA:

What are the laws and regulations that you feel like
are holding Monsanto back or are holding your industry back?

Miller:

What we look for [in regulations] is are they
effective, are they predictable, and I think most importantly that
it's a robust system that gives consumers confidence in the
decisions that are made by the regulators. Regulations should spur
innovation as well.

We've actually seen some really significant
improvements in the U.S. regulatory system over the past several
years. One of them would be that the [Department of Agriculture]
was taking a significant amount of time to get through the
regulatory approval process. Part of that was resourcing and other
issues. And they've really turned that around to where now their
process is working well and they're getting [crop] approvals and
doing their diligence in issuing approvals in a 15 to 18 month time
frame.

Bloomberg
BNA:

I have to say, I'm a little surprised. Usually when
I talk to people at companies who are involved in regulatory
affairs, these are people who are advocating for the government to
do something different. But it sounds like you're saying
“Everything's going pretty well and we're very happy with the
regulations and the laws as they exist. We just want the status quo
to continue.”

Miller:

As the science evolves and the knowledge evolves, I
would never want a regulatory system to remain static because, if
it's science-based, if we have more knowledge and understanding,
you would hope to see a progression where that's weighed when it
comes to safety assessments, understanding risks and things.

I also like to see regulatory systems that are
funded appropriately so they can assess and move through things in
a timely fashion.

There's only one time of the year where, if it's a
seed product or a chemistry product, we get an opportunity to
introduce a new innovation into the market: spring, and probably
sometime during the summer. So timing is critical there. If you
miss something by two to three months, it makes a difference
because farmers may be waiting a whole other year to get the
opportunity to leverage that innovation.

Bloomberg
BNA:

What are some of the regulations that you feel like
are not predictable, or do not give consumers confidence, or don't
spur innovation?

Miller:

We've had biotech products that have been out in the
world and have been well-studied and understood for well over 20
years. There's not been a single incident of any health or
environmental risk associated with them. I'll use an example of a
Bt-based product [plants that have been genetically engineered to
produce a protein that makes the plants resistant to insects].
That's a very familiar technology, very familiar proteins to
regulators around the world. I think between the weight of the
evidence of their safety, my hope would be over time, that they
would adjust accordingly with that knowledge.

Bloomberg
BNA:

You'd like to see USDA or EPA regulations changed to
allow for less scrutiny or less hoops to jump through for crops
that produce the Bt protein?

Miller:

What I would be looking for is to have them draw on
the wealth of information that already exists. Really focus on
what's different, but accept the findings from what's already been
established.

Bloomberg
BNA:

Do you think that's possible in the current
political climate?

Miller:

I don't see any significant barriers currently in
the political environment.

Now, there always are people that have a counter
view and a constituency that say they feel differently. But I think
that my experience has been that they listen to everyone, but they
will stick to sound science principles.

Bloomberg
BNA:

Is Monsanto paying attention to the presidential
race? What are you concerned about looking at the candidates? And
what are you excited for and what are you worried about in a new
administration?

Miller:

Administrations have come and gone, whether it's
Democrat, Republican, different mixes of the Senate, the House.
That's the beauty of our regulatory system: it doesn't gyrate one
way or another based on administration change. And I really think
that speaks to how the U.S. works.

So as we think about upcoming administrations, we're
always looking to say “are they going to remain science-based?” Or
“are they going to remain predictable?” I think that it's something
all of [the candidates] would be supportive of, because I don't see
how the U.S. continues on the path and the history that it's been
on if they all don't support those things that will lead to
innovation. I believe all the people that will end up surviving as
a candidate will likely support that.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Schultz
in Washington at dschultz@bna.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Pearl at lpearl@bna.com

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